Modernization of Japan’s political system: from militarism to neoliberal democracy

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Modernization of Japan's political system: from militarism to neoliberal democracy

Herasina Liudmyla Mykolaivna, Doctor of Sociology Sciences, Professor, Professor of the Department of Sociology and Political Science,

Yaroslav Mudryi National Law University, Kharkiv, Ukraine

Problem setting

japan political system

The historical and political foundations of Japan's political system modernization gradually developed as a result of the fascist national regimes defeat in Europe and Asia in World War II. Since 1945, due to the discrediting of the previous elitist, the mobilization (a military type) political system in the country, the processes of outdated political institutions radical breaking and reforming constitutional norms, changing the nature of power and democratization of the society began. The restructuring of the post-war Japan's political system was based

not only on a system of traditional values (according to the Japanese credo: “prosperity is given from above for doing certain responsibilities from below”), but also on constitutional and political reforms and social obligations. The strategic basis for the democratic “transit” of the Japanese state after World War II was the Declaration of the victorious states Potsdam Conference in 1945: the Soviet Union, the United States, Britain and China [1]. The changes in Japan's political system were also influenced by the fact that NATO, by limiting the development of national armies to former members of the fascist coalition, strengthened the possibilities of the civilian control over the military sphere. Thus, as a result of the Japan post-war occupation by US troops, key conditions for democratic modernization based on neoconservative and later neoliberal ideology were formed.

Recent research and publications analysis. In modern Oriental studies, the formation and functioning problems of the Japan political system have developed significantly. In the works of Western and domestic scientists (F. Fukuyama, S. P. Huntington, R. David, B. Eccleston, Ch. F. Endreyn, T. J. Pempel, M. Baglay, Entin, Y. Leibo, V. Chirkin, B. Pospelov, V. Rubel, etc.) the history of Japanese traditionalism, imperial power, sources of militarism in the XIX-XX centuries, the dynamics of Japanese political economy, transformations of the political system in the postwar years and more were considered.

The purpose of the article is to analyze the radical changes in the structure, functions and the nature of the Japan political system from the postwar times to the present, to identify significant political and legal aspects of this process.

Paper main body

It is known that the US government has taken an active part in building foundations of democracy in Japan. The goals of its post-war occupation were proclaimed: demilitarization of the country; demobilization of the Japanese armed forces and the legal punishment of all war criminals; the need to remove any obstacles to the revival and strengthening of democratic tendencies in the Japanese society; establishing respect for fundamental human rights and freedoms. Under the leadership of the general D. Macarthur, the American occupation administration began restructuring the country's economy by redistributing the land in favor of independent farmers, providing financial support to foreign investors, and expanding an access to education. Japan renounced economic autarky and became actively involved in the world capitalist economy; as a result from the 1950s to the mid-70s there was a marked economic growth, inflation was curbed, a certain equality of income was achieved and unemployment was reduced [2, p. 536].

These transformations led to corresponding changes in the political system of Japan. Although the course of political modernization was carried out according to the American model, the so-called The Yoshida's Doctrine (Yoshida Shigeru, the Prime Minister of Japan, is the chief “architect” of postwar stability). The Yoshida's Doctrine characterizes Japan's postwar political economy in strategic terms: Japan's main goal is economically viable production and development, and the political, economical cooperation with the United States is a necessary condition for this; the country could allow only limited rearmament, it should avoid international, political and strategic problems; to ensure internal defense, Japan must rely on the resources of US military bases, which the United States has identified as a “watch- tower” against the spread of Asian communism and the main means of blocking attempts to revive Japanese militarism [3, p. 19-20].

In 1945, a constitutional and political reform began in Japan, the project was actually developed by the headquarters of the American occupation forces. The new Constitution was adopted in October 1946, promulgated by the Emperor and entered into force in May 1947 [4, c. 555]. The Constitution main achievement of 1947 was the consolidation of three democratic principles: people's sovereignty (preamble, art.1, 41); the observance of citizens fundamental rights and freedoms (Section Ill); and the principle of pacifism, it is the renunciation of the war and the creation of regular armed forces (art. 9). The emperor, deprived of the real political power, remained a symbol of the nation. The parliament was proclaimed the highest body of the state and the only legislative institution. The Constitution also enshrined a number of universal values, including the need to adhere to the general principles of the peace and political morality. The basic law of Japan proclaimed and guaranteed the inalienable natural rights of citizens, abolished privileged estates (principalities, peerage); the necessary political rights and freedoms (words, assemblies, associations) are enshrined; provided socio-economic rights to work, education, health care and etc.

The ideological and political situation of the 2-nd half of the XX century in the Japanese society was characterized by contradictory trends, on the one hand it was the spread of the West political values, the cult of modernization as a benefit to Japan; on the other hand, it led to the weakening of traditional Japanese political institutions and moral ideas, and as a result of rapid industrialization and monopolization, social problems worsened in the country. Therefore, from the mid-1970s to 1985, the strategic work of Japanese scientists professional councils was carried out under the auspices of the Nagai Minister of Education, under the offices of the Prime Minister Ohira (e.g. “Sogo Andzen Hosho Senryaku” Political Committee Report, 1980) and the Prime Minister Nakasone on the course “galvanization” of traditional Japanese institutions, revival of national values and the humanistic Japanese culture, the opposition and proving the advantages of the capitalism “Japanese model” over the western one, as the former uses the principle of group interdependence (idagarasyuga), creating the harmony of interaction and social hierarchy [5; 6].

Finally, in 1985 scientists and government officials introduced the Japanese version of the post-industrial society based on the political and economic doctrine of “softonomy”, it is a comprehensive national security of Japan, which proclaimed “soft” bourgeois individualism within traditional social ties (the widespread use of intellectual labor in improving the quality of industrial products as soft pass [7, c. 16-17]. The new doctrine of Japanese capitalism was important, mostly as a political-futurological theory with the features of technocracy. But the ideas of sophtonics quite objectively represented the realities of the Japanese society structure, problematic aspects of its political practices were more clearly focused on legal ways of overcoming the crisis consequences for the country political modernization, so Fukuyama rightly noted that under the influence of their culture, the Japanese “made Western capitalism and political liberalism almost unrecognizable” [8, c. 141].

Nowadays, Japan is approximately equal in territory to Germany (located on the islands of East Asia - Hokkaido, Honshu, Shikoku, Kyushu and other small ones); its population is almost 127 million people, 99.4% are Japanese [9]. It is one of the most technologically advanced countries, which is on the third place in the world in terms of GDP per capita (after the United States and China) and on the sixth place in terms of GDP per capita (along with Switzerland and Luxembourg) [10, c. 474].

According to the form of the state bodies government and the system, modern Japan is a constitutional parliamentary monarchy, and according to the territorial and the political system it is a unitary state divided into 47 prefectures. According to the comparative political scientist Charles F. Endrain, Japan has gone from a bureaucratic authoritarian system (Meiji era) to a conciliatory political system [11, c. 72-75]. Today, a liberal-democratic regime has developed here on the basis of the law rule, the collegiality of the government and pacifism, also neoconservative and neoliberal ideologies compete on an equal footing in the party-political sphere. The principle of powers separation is enshrined in the Constitution and implemented in Japanese politics on a democratic basis. Therefore, taking into account the factor of geopolitical influence, Japan should be included in the pool of the world democracy.

For a long time, the country had a multi-party system with a dominant Liberal Democratic Party (the “domination system”), which for almost 40 years received a majority of votes in the lower house of the parliament and formed the government; other parties were factionally represented in the parliament. In total, 10,000 parties are registered in Japan, the vast majority operates at the local level; many of them disappear or are re-created, because the law allows any person running in the elections to declare himself and his political party supporters.

Japan's party system was modified after the defeat of the LDPJ (Liberal Democratic Party of Japan) in the 1993 elections and a series of parliamentary crises and frequent resignations by the Cabinet; now the government is formed on a coalition basis, it is mostly formed by parties of the governing coalition of the LDP representatives, the Social Democratic Party, the Sakigake party (“Prophet”) or others. The Party of Democratic Socialism, the Communist Party, the Party of Pure Politics (Comeito), the New Party of Japan, the Party of New Frontiers, and the Party of Renewal of Japan (the latter emerged during the parliamentary crises of the 1990s) also play prominent political roles in the country [4, c. 557-564].

The political modernization has led to a democratic process of forming representative institutions of power in Japan on the basis of an universal suffrage and by a secret ballot; no discrimination (sexual, property) is allowed in the suffrage. But political scientists note that the Japanese electorate is strongly influenced not only by ideological and political orientations, but also by feelings of gratitude, corporatism and social kinship. In general, the structural and functional development of Japanese parliamentarism provides a situation of the stable political balance.

The main purpose and prerogative of the Japan Parliament as a static institution of the legal system [12, c. 88], is a function of legislation that determines government revenues and expenditures. It is the only legislative body of the country, which consists of two chambers: the lower is the House of Representatives, it is elected for 4 years in the number of 500 deputies; the upper is the Chamber of Councilors (252 persons are elected for 6 years, but with a mandatory three-year rotation of 50%). The House of Representatives may be dissolved early by an act of the Emperor at the request of the government, but the upper house is not a subject to dissolution. In the chambers, party factions are created, which play a decisive role in the distribution of leading positions in the parliament and the state; standing and temporary committees in various spheres of the public life (18 in the House of Representatives, 16 in the Chamber of Councilors). Each parliamentarian must be a member of one or two committees, and the chairman of the committee is elected from among the members of the party faction that has the largest representation in it. Deputies and advisers have a free mandate and use the limited parliamentary immunity; but a member of the parliament may be expelled from chamber by a majority resolution of those present.

The Cabinet of Ministers and parliamentarians have the right of legislative initiative (the bill can be submitted by 20 deputies or 10 advisers). The main role in the legislative process in Japan is played by the House of Representatives, because the regulations, adopted by it, become laws without the consent of the upper house, namely: the lower house overcomes the upper veto by re-passing the law by a two-thirds majority. But the law on the state budget of the country cannot be adopted without the participation of the upper house, if all means for approval have been exhausted [13]. Finally, from among the highest bodies of the state, the Japanese parliament has the power to form a government, the Cabinet.

The executive branch in Japan has an original specificity and is dualistic. It formally includes: the head of the state - the Emperor and the government, but the real power has only the Cabinet of Ministers.

Japan is considered the world's oldest monarchy, dating back more than 2,600 years old. Traditionally, the lives of the Emperor and his family, who was formerly considered the “Son of Heaven”, were shrouded in the mystery. The reign of each Japan monarch has long been proclaimed a special era: from the date of accession to the throne of the new emperor is the official chronology. In Japan, there is a Salic system of succession, the throne is transferred to the eldest son; women cannot take the throne [14; 15]. But according to the Constitution of 1947, the emperor is no longer a sacred figure and exists only as a symbol of the state and the unity of the nation (the so-called “divine origin” in 1949 was abandoned by Emperor Hirohito). So in recent years, the life of the imperial family has become more open.

The former Emperor Akihito (reigned since 1989) abdicated in April 2019; from May 2019, his son, the 126th Emperor Naruhito, has been ruling; in Japan, a new era of Rave began - “Order and harmony”. He was educated at Oxford; his wife, the 55-year-old Empress Masako, studied at Harvard and is a former diplomat. Under a constitutional monarchy, the emperor can only perform representative functions enshrined in the constitution of the state (e.g. to approve a prime minister appointed by the parliament), and has less power than the monarch of Great Britain. The head of the state does not take part in the legislation, he does not have the right to veto the adopted laws. In this case, the emperor is an inviolable person and is not subject to civil, criminal or administrative liability.

The organization and implementation of executive power in Japan belongs entirely to the Cabinet of Ministers, according to the system of its powers. The government consists of the prime minister, 12 ministers and 8 state ministers (advisers to the prime minister); it is formed by both houses of the parliament and is officially appointed by a decree of the emperor. The principle of government collective responsibility before the parliament is constitutionally enshrined, which emphasizes: if the House of Representatives adopts a resolution of no confidence in the Cabinet of Ministers, it must resign in full; or the emperor (on the advice and consent of the Cabinet) dissolves the House of Representatives.

The constitutional competence of the Japan Ministers Cabinet determines the range of its state functions: to implement the Constitution and laws; to manage public affairs and foreign policy; to conclude international agreements (after approval by the parliament); to submit the draft state budget to the parliament; to issue decrees for the implementation of laws; to make decisions on amnesty, oblivion, restoration of rights; to control the civil service, etc.

The main role in the government is played by the Prime Minister of Japan, who appoints and dismisses his members, ensures the unity and coherence of political and economic activities, and signs decrees. The Cabinet meetings are regulated as usual: they are closed to the public, decisions are made not by voting, but unanimously or by consensus. Ministers in the government are usually not professionals, they are party politicians who do not interfere deeply in the affairs of ministries and often change; the real leadership is provided by the administrative heads of the ministries. Thus, in the activities of the Japanese government, as well as the parliament, a significant role belongs to professional managers, the top of the «rational» bureaucracy, which is an essential aspect of the similarity of the modern Japan political system with the Western democracy models.

Conclusion

As a result, it can be said that in the second half of the twentieth century in Japan, the country's political system was modernized from militarism to neoliberal democracy; according to Article 1 of the Constitution, the only bearer of state sovereignty is the people. The political structure of the Japanese government is balanced and harmonious, the government has a wide network of advisory institutes, which indicates the development and influence of civil society. They work with corporate companies, trade unions, academia, parliamentarians and civil servants, they analyze socially significant information for the independent examination of political decisions and they provide the public control over the actions of the state bureaucracy. Thus, as it is noted by V. Rechytsky, the emergence of constitutions in the world (according to F. Hayek) led to the transition from subjugation of citizens to common collective goals inherent in societies-associa- tions, to their recognition of uniform and abstract rules that provide the space for freedom and diversity [16].

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